Wow. Shaun “I love to have a beer with Boof” Marsh.
I now view the re-selection of Shaun Marsh as a cross between the now cliche John Farnham comeback tour and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 – a comprehensively faulty battery with no age of reason.
If they cut Marsh from a central contract last year, why is he back? What is the allure?
If they are serious about experience and left-handers who actually know where their off stump is, why did Ed Cowan get dumped from New South Wales for younger players – heavily influenced, no less, from Australian captain Steve Smith – when he topped the Shield run-scorers last year with nearly 1000 runs?
As Brett Geeves observed during the week on Fox Sports, I would love to see Cowan test the legal waters as to whether he has been discriminated against on the criteria of age.
In basic terms, the Age Discrimination Act 2004 is an act of the Parliament of Australia that prohibits age discrimination in many areas including employment, education, accommodation and the provision of goods and services. Persons of any age can be discriminated against within the meaning of the act.
Taking such a grievance to the Human Rights Commission may open up a loss of earnings argument which could set very awkward precedents into the future for the Cricket Australia. That would be fun to watch.
(AFP Photo / William West)
Next on the list. Tim Paine. Another golden boy from ten years ago. A career ruined by finger injuries. But it’s okay, at 32 he is now our best keeper.
He hasn’t even been keeping for his state. He hasn’t scored a first-class ton since Darren Lehman was playing. His form hardly warranted selection over the last couple of years as a standalone batsman, averaging near 16 with a first-class career average of 29.
Of the contending keepers, Peter Nevill is very hard done by – people say he hasn’t scored the runs, but New South Wales has comfortably won its first three matches, and he has sacrificed his innings twice chasing quick runs. Team game, doing a team thing.
Matthew Wade must be traumatised. The bloke standing next to him at first slip who can’t break into the keeping ranks let alone hardly being picked in the batting ranks is now Australia’s wicketkeeper.
I’m not saying Wade and Nevill were knocking the doors down – they weren’t. In my view Wade can’t keep but deserves a mention as the incumbent. But the Paine selection is even more ludicrous when you have another part-time keeper in Cam Bancroft smashing runs everywhere. Seriously, the selectors should have just pulled Chris Hartley out of retirement.
(AAP Image/Richard Wainwright)
No doubt Bancroft deserves his slot, but not at the expense of Matt Renshaw. Renshaw obviously hasn’t scored lots of runs of late, but Peter Handscomb isn’t setting the world on fire either. Regardless the trio should be in the team as the foundational elements of our next world-beating squad. Bancroft in as either the keeper or the number six.
Glen Maxwell finally gets the chance to answer his critics on home soil and he is also consigned to the dustbin.
And why pick on Renshaw? Why not David Warner? He simply couldn’t perform in India and now will probably be a hero again on the highways that are unfortunately modern Australian Test wickets. Let’s not forget Renshaw’s Test average in Australia is 65, and his efforts to dig in during the Indian series when more famed companions couldn’t should have earnt him some street cred.
Anyways, allegedly Shaun Marsh has been brought into the team for his experience. Give me a break. He has had more than double the number of recalls to the Test team than centuries. The selectors in one foul swoop have destroyed the integrity of the domestic first-class scene.
I must live in a parallel universe. It will be confirmed when the selectors drop Shaun Marsh for the third Test for his brother Mitch on the basis of his outstanding JLT one-day domestic batting form and new-found peace captaining Western Australia.
And let’s not forget Mitch’s ability to bowl is always an advantage!
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Sign the man up for a contract next season!
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